


A few brief words about the Fight Club AU

by Chromite



Series: Pearl Fight Club [2]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Differences between Era One Pearls and Era Two Pearls, Explanation for some things that didn't need explaining previously, Not really a story, Pearl Fight Club AU, Personal Theory, Personal thoughts, Talking about Pearls, Talking about my stories, but still needs to be made anyways
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-06
Updated: 2019-09-06
Packaged: 2020-10-11 06:22:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20541533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chromite/pseuds/Chromite
Summary: A post about what certain details from the movie will mean for these stories of mine. Contains a spoiler about the Steven Universe movie. Please read this before posting any comments about how "that's not how Pearls work" in relation to this AU.





	A few brief words about the Fight Club AU

NOTE: If you want the TLDR explanation of why things in my existing stories aren't going to be changed based on the movie, skip below the second set of -'s.  
XXXXXXX  
>First off, I have seen the movie, and I loved every moment of it. However, there's something that happened in the movie that needs to be addressed.  
>When Pearl started reforming after being reset by the Rejuvenator, we got a glimpse of how she started life, asking for identification, and then asking for customization. This was an amazing scene, and really shows how Pearls are "made to order servants", like Peridot said.  
>The problem here is it messes with every backstory I've written so far. Every Pearl I've made has already been formed when they were introduced to their master, or they emerged from a wall fresh in the case of Hydra and Zeva.  
>Now, I could go back and adjust two of my stories easily, Iron's backstory and Lime's backstory wouldn't change that much, they're still normal looking Pearls at the end of the day. The problems arise with my Off-Color Pearls, Zeva and Hydra, and also throws a wrench in any other Off-Color Pearls I wish to make.  
>With Pearls being customizable from the start and latching on to the gem or person that spoke their name first upon activation, Hydra would never have been on the alien world to begin with. If she somehow formed wrong, she would have been face to face with a Hessonite, who would have acted quickly to dispose of her. Zeva herself is a little more excusable, but I feel like having Eve intentionally design her to be Off-Color takes away from her character a bit.  
>So what does this mean for my stories? For the stories that exist, nothing. I'm not changing anything about their backstories now. In the future, I may use the customization scene for a gem creating her Pearl. There's at least one story I have in mind that works better like that.  
>I can hear some of you thinking: "But Chromite, why did these Pearls emerge differently from how Pearl did in the movie?!" Here's how I'm going to legitimize it. Below the line is my own personal headcanon.  
\-------  
>All Era One Pearls form exactly like the Crystal Gem Pearl did, with the seashells and asking for customization preferences. A gem could set any parameters she wanted within her Pearl, have her colors look how she wanted, have her gemstone where she wanted, set personality quirks, hair length, number of eyes, anything and everything a gem could want to set, she could.  
>Naturally, making Pearls capable of all these various changes would take a lot of resources. Each Era One Pearl could be changed on a whim of their owner, taking on radically different appearances from day to day if it was desired.  
>This adaptability begins to wreck havoc and sow paranoia when the Earth Rebellion kicks off. A Pearl is seen rebelling alongside a Rose Quartz. Gems begin fearing that this Quartz had somehow stolen a blank Pearl, and could alter its appearance and colors and use her to spy on elite gems without them realizing it.  
>This is further complicated when gems other than Rose Quartz, Gem elites, are caught sending their own Pearls, altered in color and appearance, to spy on their fellow elite gems. Conspiracies begin circulating, rumors flow around of gems secretly playing rebel and feeding information to the enemy with their Pearls.  
>Naturally the paranoia comes to a head when Pink Diamond fakes her own shattering, making gems everywhere believe she's gone. Rumors and finger pointing start flying around, elites accuse other elites of feeding information to Rose Quartz and being part of the terrible shattering of a Diamond.  
>Elites and their Pearls are rounded up, thoroughly questioned, and any of them that were revealed to have connections to the rebellion were punished, their Pearls taken away and repurposed.  
>During Era Two, resources began to dwindle. Gems couldn't be created with the same quality that they used to. Sacrifices in gem production had to be made for the greater good.  
>The very first gem type to get resource cuts were Pearls. Paranoia about their changeability was still running high from the rebellion, worries about Pearls being used as spies still in the back of the minds of Elite Gems and the Diamonds themselves.  
>To further add to the choice of cutting resources from Pearl production was the sheer amount of materials that went into every one of them, the very materials that gave Pearls high levels of customization.  
>In the end, having the gems the Pearls were being created for design said Pearl and have only those options seeded into the incubation achieved what needed to be done. A large amount of resources was freed, and Pearls would no longer be able to be changed at whim, making prospective Pearl spies easier to track back to owners.  
>Every Gem who was awarded an Era One Pearl was given the chance to turn theirs in for a "newer, better Pearl" model. A large portion of the elite gems turned their Pearls in, wanting to prove they weren't prospective spies. Lower casts of gems kept their Pearls more often, not wanting to abandon their awarded companions.  
>With designs for Era Two Pearls being preset, there was no more need for a shell and activation phase for them. Pearls began being incubated in specialized artificial walls within laboratories, bursting to life when the incubation time was up, like normal gems. Most Pearls emerged knowing who they were meant to serve and in the proper colors and looks.  
>Unfortunately, the new incubation process allowed errors to occur in Pearls, much like they did for normal gems. Mutations started being recorded along with the materials that went into the Off-Color Pearls, to see if a pattern could be spotted. No pattern was ever established. Mutations included multiple heads, taller heights, altered colors, extra limbs, and the exhibition of powers Pearls weren't suppose to have.  
>Despite the complications, the transition to Era Two Pearl production was deemed a success, the materials it took to remake defective Pearls was far less than the amount of materials saved by removing their any time you wanted to customization.  
\-------  
To summarize, all Pearls I've created so far are now Era Two Pearls, significantly less resources go into making the Era Two Pearls compared to Era One Pearls, and they are thus not capable of the full customization of Era One and emerge in one style only, incapable of changing their colors beyond what was set, and subject to emerging as an Off-Color.

**Author's Note:**

> If you have any questions about Era One Pearls compared to Era Two Pearls that I didn't address, post them here please.


End file.
